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The Hiroshima Cover-Up
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| Trancer-X |
Published on Friday, August 5, 2005 by the Baltimore Sun
The Hiroshima Cover-Up
by Amy Goodman and David Goodman
A story that the U.S. government hoped would never see the light of day finally has been published, 60 years after it was spiked by military censors. The discovery of reporter George Weller's firsthand account of conditions in post-nuclear Nagasaki sheds light on one of the great journalistic betrayals of the last century: the cover-up of the effects of the atomic bombing on Japan.
On Aug. 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima; three days later, Nagasaki was hit. Gen. Douglas MacArthur promptly declared southern Japan off-limits, barring the news media. More than 200,000 people died in the atomic bombings of the cities, but no Western journalist witnessed the aftermath and told the story. Instead, the world's media obediently crowded onto the battleship USS Missouri off the coast of Japan to cover the Japanese surrender.
A month after the bombings, two reporters defied General MacArthur and struck out on their own. Mr. Weller, of the Chicago Daily News, took row boats and trains to reach devastated Nagasaki. Independent journalist Wilfred Burchett rode a train for 30 hours and walked into the charred remains of Hiroshima.
Both men encountered nightmare worlds. Mr. Burchett sat down on a chunk of rubble with his Baby Hermes typewriter. His dispatch began: "In Hiroshima, 30 days after the first atomic bomb destroyed the city and shook the world, people are still dying, mysteriously and horribly - people who were uninjured in the cataclysm from an unknown something which I can only describe as the atomic plague."
He continued, tapping out the words that still haunt to this day: "Hiroshima does not look like a bombed city. It looks as if a monster steamroller has passed over it and squashed it out of existence. I write these facts as dispassionately as I can in the hope that they will act as a warning to the world."
Mr. Burchett's article, headlined "The Atomic Plague," was published Sept. 5, 1945, in the London Daily Express. The story caused a worldwide sensation and was a public relations fiasco for the U.S. military. The official U.S. narrative of the atomic bombings downplayed civilian casualties and categorically dismissed as "Japanese propaganda" reports of the deadly lingering effects of radiation.
So when Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter George Weller's 25,000-word story on the horror that he encountered in Nagasaki was submitted to military censors, General MacArthur ordered the story killed, and the manuscript was never returned. As Mr. Weller later summarized his experience with General MacArthur's censors, "They won."
Recently, Mr. Weller's son, Anthony, discovered a carbon copy of the suppressed dispatches among his father's papers (George Weller died in 2002). Unable to find an interested American publisher, Anthony Weller sold the account to Mainichi Shimbun, a big Japanese newspaper. Now, on the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings, Mr. Weller's account can finally be read.
"In swaybacked or flattened skeletons of the Mitsubishi arms plants is revealed what the atomic bomb can do to steel and stone, but what the riven atom can do against human flesh and bone lies hidden in two hospitals of downtown Nagasaki," wrote Mr. Weller. A month after the bombs fell, he observed, "The atomic bomb's peculiar 'disease,' uncured because it is untreated and untreated because it is not diagnosed, is still snatching away lives here."
After killing Mr. Weller's reports, U.S. authorities tried to counter Mr. Burchett's articles by attacking the messenger. General MacArthur ordered Mr. Burchett expelled from Japan (the order was later rescinded), his camera mysteriously vanished while he was in a Tokyo hospital and U.S. officials accused him of being influenced by Japanese propaganda.
Then the U.S. military unleashed a secret propaganda weapon: It deployed its own Times man. It turns out that William L. Laurence, the science reporter for The New York Times, was also on the payroll of the War Department.
For four months, while still reporting for the Times, Mr. Laurence had been writing press releases for the military explaining the atomic weapons program; he also wrote statements for President Harry Truman and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson. He was rewarded by being given a seat on the plane that dropped the bomb on Nagasaki, an experience that he described in the Times with religious awe.
Three days after publication of Mr. Burchett's shocking dispatch, Mr. Laurence had a front-page story in the Times disputing the notion that radiation sickness was killing people. His news story included this remarkable commentary: "The Japanese are still continuing their propaganda aimed at creating the impression that we won the war unfairly, and thus attempting to create sympathy for themselves and milder terms. ... Thus, at the beginning, the Japanese described 'symptoms' that did not ring true."
Mr. Laurence won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the atomic bomb, and his faithful parroting of the government line was crucial in launching a half-century of silence about the deadly lingering effects of the bomb. It is time for the Pulitzer board to strip Hiroshima's apologist and his newspaper of this undeserved prize.
Sixty years late, Mr. Weller's censored account stands as a searing indictment not only of the inhumanity of the atomic bomb but also of the danger of journalists embedding with the government to deceive the world.
Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, and David Goodman, a contributing writer for Mother Jones, are co-authors of The Exception to the Rulers: Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers, and the Media That Love Them. |
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| Fir3start3r |
Why is this news?
Everyone knows the bombs dropped were devastating and propoganda during war? Nooooooooooooo... |
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| Trancer-X |
| quote: | Originally posted by Fir3start3r
Why is this news?
Everyone knows the bombs dropped were devastating and propoganda during war? Nooooooooooooo... |
Did you actually read it or is your mouth just farting again? |
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| Fir3start3r |
| quote: | Originally posted by Trancer-X
Did you actually read it or is your mouth just farting again? |
What? Did I studder?
Let me repeat for those impaired...
N-O N-E-W-S H-E-R-E
Why should we be surprised?
Propoganda was (and still is) used a lot in a state of war... :rolleyes:
Unless you're making some other point, I fail to see what you're getting at, so just spill it instead of making snooty remarks and bringing your own posts back from the dead...:rolleyes: |
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| Trancer-X |
| quote: | Originally posted by Fir3start3r
What? Did I studder?
Let me repeat for those impaired...
N-O N-E-W-S H-E-R-E
Why should we be surprised?
Propoganda was (and still is) used a lot in a state of war... :rolleyes:
Unless you're making some other point, I fail to see what you're getting at, so just spill it instead of making snooty remarks and bringing your own posts back from the dead...:rolleyes: |
| quote: | So when Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter George Weller's 25,000-word story on the horror that he encountered in Nagasaki was submitted to military censors, General MacArthur ordered the story killed, and the manuscript was never returned. As Mr. Weller later summarized his experience with General MacArthur's censors, "They won."
Recently, Mr. Weller's son, Anthony, discovered a carbon copy of the suppressed dispatches among his father's papers (George Weller died in 2002). Unable to find an interested American publisher, Anthony Weller sold the account to Mainichi Shimbun, a big Japanese newspaper. Now, on the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings, Mr. Weller's account can finally be read.
"In swaybacked or flattened skeletons of the Mitsubishi arms plants is revealed what the atomic bomb can do to steel and stone, but what the riven atom can do against human flesh and bone lies hidden in two hospitals of downtown Nagasaki," wrote Mr. Weller. A month after the bombs fell, he observed, "The atomic bomb's peculiar 'disease,' uncured because it is untreated and untreated because it is not diagnosed, is still snatching away lives here."
After killing Mr. Weller's reports, U.S. authorities tried to counter Mr. Burchett's articles by attacking the messenger. General MacArthur ordered Mr. Burchett expelled from Japan (the order was later rescinded), his camera mysteriously vanished while he was in a Tokyo hospital and U.S. officials accused him of being influenced by Japanese propaganda. |
That's not news to you?
Today was the first time that I've ever read it.
You just gave me a good idea, though - I think that now I'm going to post it all over again but this time in a poll, asking people if they've read it before or not. :D |
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| Trancer-X |
| quote: | Originally posted by Fir3start3r
Propoganda was (and still is) used a lot in a state of war... :rolleyes: |
BTW - that propaganda (with one "o" and three "a's") has been used in wartime is something that was never questioned. I don't know, perhaps it will take you like five or more reads before you finally figure it out, but that article was written in regards to post-wartime correspondence. |
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| hardcore trancer |
| quote: | Originally posted by Fir3start3r
Why should we be surprised?
Propoganda was (and still is) used a lot in a state of war... :rolleyes:
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Yet you support the war in Iraq,even though it is probably one the biggest propogandas in our history. |
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| shaolin_Z |
| quote: | Originally posted by Fir3start3r
What? Did I studder?
Let me repeat for those impaired...
N-O N-E-W-S H-E-R-E
Why should we be surprised?
Propoganda was (and still is) used a lot in a state of war... :rolleyes:
Unless you're making some other point, I fail to see what you're getting at, so just spill it instead of making snooty remarks and bringing your own posts back from the dead...:rolleyes: |
Yes, "truth is the first casualty in war." -Suz Tzu
I find it interesting that most people with atleast some level of knowledge history and current events are basically fully aware how there's tons of pro-state propoganda during times of War, yet the same people (with few exceptions) fall for it every time. I don't really know what to say to such people, since I would be simply repeating something they are already familiar with yet choose to ignore in times of War.
So my conlusion is that most people don't want to know the truth since they can't deal with it and want to be lied to. Quite pathetic if you ask me. |
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| metalgearsolid |
| quote: | Originally posted by shaolin_Z
So my conlusion is that most people don't want to know the truth since they can't deal with it and want to be lied to. Quite pathetic if you ask me. |
Than what is the truth sensei? |
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| Shakka |
Damnit. TX said Propaganda had 1 "O" and 3 "As", yet nobody seemed to catch on.
And if you're going to quote somebody, don't quote someone who doesn't exist. If you had read The Art of War, you'd know it is Sun Tzu, not Suz Tzu. I mean the "Z" and the "N" are on completely opposite sides of the keyboard. Show some respect people!:toothless
TX--I don't think the article necessarily brings anything new to light as far as the atomic effects, which the article seemed to spend a lot of time on. As far as post-war supression of the reporters' accounts--it sounded they were trying to supress the reporting of the effects, which very well may have been done to prevent too much negative sentiment directed back towards the U.S. I mean everyone knew it was brutal, but we've seen what happens when the anti-war crowd gets its hands on tangible evidence to fuel their fight (just look at Abu Ghraib).
Again, I don't know the specifics as to why this sort of censorship would happen, but I certainly don't think it was to try to convince people that we had never dropped A-Bombs. It was likely more to prevent too much negative fallout at home. Again, that's pure conjecture on my part, and I'm not saying that I agree with the decision, rather I'm trying to come up with a rational reason as to why it would happen. But I don't think the article necessarily sheds new light on what happened. |
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| shaolin_Z |
| quote: | Originally posted by Shakka
Damnit. TX said Propaganda had 1 "O" and 3 "As", yet nobody seemed to catch on.
And if you're going to quote somebody, don't quote someone who doesn't exist. If you had read The Art of War, you'd know it is Sun Tzu, not Suz Tzu. I mean the "Z" and the "N" are on completely opposite sides of the keyboard. Show some respect people!:toothless |
You mean me and not TX. I made a typo, big deal :rolleyes: :p.
| quote: | Originally posted by Shakka
TX--I don't think the article necessarily brings anything new to light as far as the atomic effects, which the article seemed to spend a lot of time on. As far as post-war supression of the reporters' accounts--it sounded they were trying to supress the reporting of the effects, which very well may have been done to prevent too much negative sentiment directed back towards the U.S. I mean everyone knew it was brutal, but we've seen what happens when the anti-war crowd gets its hands on tangible evidence to fuel their fight (just look at Abu Ghraib).
Again, I don't know the specifics as to why this sort of censorship would happen, but I certainly don't think it was to try to convince people that we had never dropped A-Bombs. It was likely more to prevent too much negative fallout at home. Again, that's pure conjecture on my part, and I'm not saying that I agree with the decision, rather I'm trying to come up with a rational reason as to why it would happen. But I don't think the article necessarily sheds new light on what happened. |
What place does censorship have in a "free" press, and in a "democracy?" None really, except:
a) to with hold relevant information the public has a right to know so they can make more informed and better decisions.
b) undermining the role the media is supposed to play of being a watchdog and instead making it a lapdog. |
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| Fir3start3r |
| quote: | Originally posted by Trancer-X
BTW - that propaganda (with one "o" and three "a's") has been used in wartime is something that was never questioned. I don't know, perhaps it will take you like five or more reads before you finally figure it out, but that article was written in regards to post-wartime correspondence. |
Yea, sue me I make spelling mistakes...:p
I understand where you're coming from, it's just I don't really find it that surprising, especially within the context of that time period.
It's not like today where we now have the option of other sources (ala the Internet) besides something the government can control more readily (again within the context of that time period) like print and broadcast media.
We just simply weren't that globally self-conscious as now.
So I'm not putting the story down; it was a simple opinion and state of fact within my own world ;) |
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